Administration response on drilling ban irks oil spill commission

The leaders of the presidential commission investigating the oil spill today said they were disappointed with the Obama administration’s response to their questions about whether a ban on deep-water drilling could be lifted for some low-risk drilling projects.

William Reilly, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and the co-chairman of the commission, said Bromwich’s reply was “a recital of a number of the things — some very good things — that have happened since the Macondo blowout.”

“What I got from that was a list of things that we already knew were under way, many of which we admire quite a lot,” Reilly said. “But we have more questions . . . and we continue to have concerns that haven’t been resolved.”

Chief among those questions is why the moratorium needs to remain in place until Nov. 30 — given new drilling safety regulations and other changes imposed by the Interior Department.

“Given the strengthening of the agency, given the correction of some of the clear problems, given that the spilling has stopped itself, what remains to be assured on … within the next three to four months?” Reilly asked. “Why will it take that much time?”

At the commission’s invitation, the Bipartisan Policy Center — a group founded by four former Senate majority leaders, including Bob Dole, R-Kansas, and Tom Daschle, D-S.D., — will weigh in on the issue as soon as this evening.

On July 27, Lazarus wrote the center asking if it would assess “the use of the moratoria as a method of mitigating future harm in the immediate aftermath of the spill.” In particular, the commission asked the BPC to identify the questions the federal government should ask as it decides whether individual drilling operations “are sufficiently safe” to be exempted from the ban.